‘The woman of the twentieth century’

In 1901 a book was published in Budapest under the title The Woman of the Twentieth Century.1 This book consisted of four essays, the first of which had the same title as the book itself. The first essay’s importance, in relation to this present book’s focus on New Woman hybridities, is related to the fact that the author, Rozina Mársits, began her piece with an explanation of the meaning of the English expression ‘New Woman’. According to Mársits, the concept ‘New Woman’ was introduced to the Hungarian literary language as the ‘Woman of the twentieth century’ (Mársits 1901: 3). Before taking a closer look at the text itself, I want to discuss its context and social setting: the place, time and the person who wrote the text.